🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 1
Lily of the Valley of Sanvertal
There was once a perfumer who created fragrances that could never be found anywhere else in the world.
One day, the leader of the Inquisitors who had been chasing her shouted in front of the last temple of Varin, the God of Crossroads and Stars.
“Criminal Prim! Open the door!”
Although the angry voice echoed from outside, the woman acted as if she could not hear it at all. She simply walked toward the altar inside the temple.
Behind her, bloody footprints appeared one after another.
At last, she reached the altar.
A statue of a faceless angel had been split in half, its broken pieces scattered across the altar.
Prim collapsed onto her knees in front of it.
In a trembling voice, she whispered,
“…Varin.”
The forgotten god, whom no one had called upon for a very long time, gave her no answer.
“Is it because I chose the wrong path? Is this my punishment?”
Tears continuously rolled down her cheeks.
“Then… then why was it Rozien and not me…?!”
She raised the perfume bottle in her hand.
Her trembling caused the pale liquid inside to shake.
Within the shimmering liquid, Prim saw the image of a young man with red hair.
She saw him collapse, spilling blood as red as his hair.
At that moment, the increasingly loud voices outside finally broke through the temple doors.
BOOOOM!
The Inquisitors stormed inside with the clanking of their armor.
“Criminal Prim! Don’t move!”
Prim recognized the man standing at the front.
He was Sevardo Rickhart, a follower of Yulberon, the God of Justice and Pride.
He had often stayed by Rozien’s side and encouraged him to become a knight. He had repeatedly told Rozien that he possessed exceptional talent.
But now, when Sevardo looked at Prim, his face was filled with miserable resentment.
“By the command of Yulberon, God of Justice and Pride, and by the arrangement of His Holiness, the High Seat, we are here to arrest the criminal Prim!”
Sevardo drew his sword.
A divine fragrance blessed by his god covered the blade, proving that he had come here under divine orders.
“You are guilty of monopolizing fragrance materials and persecuting secular perfumers, thereby interfering with the extermination of magical beasts!”
“You are guilty of encouraging Rozien Ardor to commit various crimes!”
“You are guilty of ultimately driving Rozien Ardor into a deadly situation and causing his death!”
“And finally, you created a fragrance capable of killing people. Therefore, you are no longer qualified to be a perfumer!”
“We, the Inquisitors, hereby confiscate this perfume and take the criminal to Luminoxia Isla!”
The tip of the Inquisitor’s sword trembled.
His aged face almost seemed to be pleading with her.
Prim quietly thought about the crimes they had listed.
They were right.
Instead of allowing Prim to rise into the light, Rozien had fallen into the darkness and ruled over the underground caverns as their lord.
He had done it for the sake of the things she wanted, even though she had never asked him to.
Rozien had also gone on a journey to obtain the fragrance materials Prim wanted.
In the end, he had not even left behind a corpse.
All that had returned to her were the materials she had wanted and a handful of his red hair.
And from that sacrifice, Prim had created the perfume currently in her hand.
She had not removed any of the toxic properties from the ingredients.
The result was a beautiful fragrance filled with deadly poison.
Prim thought to herself:
There is no reason for me to continue anymore.
Eventually, the sun completely disappeared below the horizon.
The surroundings became completely silent.
“Criminal Prim…!”
Before the Inquisitors could finish speaking, Prim opened the bottle in her hand and threw away the stopper.
The exquisite stopper, crafted by the finest glassmaker in the empire, struck the floor and shattered into countless pieces.
It gave off one last faint glimmer before disappearing into the darkness.
“It’s better if you don’t come any closer.”
Prim lifted the bottle.
The very same fragrance that could kill people began spreading from it.
The first thing they noticed was the overwhelming scent of thick white flowers.
It smelled like white flowers that bloomed at night, mixed with the powerful scent of flowers that had been crushed and were beginning to rot.
Amid that intense fragrance came a clear, green scent like fresh spring water.
It was clean and refreshing, washing away the overwhelming sweetness and awakening the mind.
There was even a faint, brisk smell of water.
It felt as though someone had fallen into a garden covered in morning dew, bringing the scent of damp earth with them.
Then, a warm woody fragrance emerged, embracing all the other scents.
It had a slight acidity and sweetness, almost like fruit and chocolate crushed together inside a bowl carved from old wood.
Even the Inquisitors’ expressions softened without them realizing it.
“It feels like we’re standing in the middle of a garden where countless flowers are blooming and dying at the same time…”
Someone murmured absentmindedly before hurriedly covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve.
Only Sevardo kept his sword raised.
“Prim! Stop!”
But Prim poured the perfume directly over her own head.
Everyone could only stare at her, unable to understand what she was doing.
Then Sevardo suddenly shouted as if he had been struck.
“N-No! Don’t, Prim! No!”
His voice did not sound angry at a criminal.
It sounded like the cry of someone suffering from unbearable despair.
The transparent green liquid flowed down Prim’s closed eyes like tears.
The fragrance that had once smelled so wonderful now felt unbearably intense.
As the scent filled the ruined temple, Prim could distinguish every ingredient she had used.
This was what she had spent her entire life doing.
Jasmine.
Blackcurrant buds.
A very small amount of lily.
Lily of the Valley of Sanvertal.
And the resin of an ancient agarwood tree that had been wounded by a magical beast…
Not long afterward, Prim suddenly coughed up a large amount of blood and collapsed.
A terrible pain spread throughout her body, as if countless needles were swimming through her veins.
The knights could not bring themselves to approach her.
As Prim slowly died within her own fragrance, she remembered her childhood.
She vaguely remembered the days when Rozien carried her on his back as they wandered through the forest picking flowers.
Nothing matters anymore.
Not if he isn’t coming back…
Then it happened.
Light slowly began to grow from the perfume bottle lying on the altar.
A moment later, beams of light split apart and filled the entire ruined temple.
The darkness disappeared in an instant.
Dawn arrived.
From somewhere, a fluttering sound could be heard.
It sounded like a gigantic flower bud finally opening into full bloom.
It also sounded like a huge cloak being shaken out, or the wings of an angel flapping.
At the same time, the sound of beautiful instruments echoed throughout the temple.
Then a voice appeared in her heart, or perhaps from somewhere beyond this world.
It was the gentle voice of a god, vibrating softly from her ears all the way into her lungs.
“Oh, my little Lily of the Valley! Great power dwells within a great fragrance. I have descended!”
The mysterious voice sounded like plucked strings mixed with the ringing of many tiny bells.
Prim’s body, which had been lying on the floor, slowly began to rise.
As if the god were washing a lamb, the blood covering Prim’s body was cleansed away.
Prim was able to open her eyes.
Even while standing at the edge of death, Prim looked upon the god.
It was a time that was neither day nor night.
Behind the god stretched dozens of crossroads, each glowing in a different color.
Flowers and trees grew abundantly along every path.
But the god’s face could not be seen.
It was hidden as if behind a veil.
Varin treated the motionless Inquisitors as though they were his angels and spoke kindly.
“Little Lily of the Valley, look at me. Your fragrance has made me this strong, so I have descended. I will bless your fragrance and grant the wish in your heart.”
The air gently trembled.
Within the deadly yet beautiful fragrance, only the god remained vividly alive.
“…Then please save him.”
Although Prim had never dreamed that she would meet a god, those words came naturally from her lips.
It was as though she had been waiting all this time to say them.
The god answered.
“Of course I can save him. But, my Lily of the Valley, is that truly what you desire?”
Two paths appeared before Prim.
“I can bring him back to life at this very moment.”
“Or I can return to him everything that he lost.”
On one path, a bright red rose swayed gently in the breeze.
On the other, the rose gradually became smaller and younger.
Its long, spreading stem curled back.
It eventually became nothing more than a tiny red shoot that had just begun to grow.
It was as if time itself were being reversed.
The god asked:
“Now, my Lily of the Valley… which path will you choose?”
